Cornice bracket



Jan. 19, 1960 A. M. ESCHELBACH ETAL 2,922,029

CORNICE BRACKET Filed Nov. 25, 1956 2 SheetsSheet 1 INVENTORS: AzmmMZsmzzazcm BY Aim 155mm,!

1960 A. M. ESCHELBACH ETAL 2,922,029

CORNICE BRACKET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 25. 195s INVEN'I'ORS: .JZFHEDMZ'SUHELBAGH.

BYNBILAZSL'HEW.

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United States Patent CORNICE BRACKET Alfred M. Eschelbach and Neil A. Eschelbach, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Application November 23, 1956, Serial No. 624,093

1 Claim. (Cl. 240-4) This invention relates to a multi-purpose cornice bracket. More particularly, it deals with such a bracket which provides a support not only for a cornice board but also a lighting fixture and a curtain or drapery track and hangers. For example, the bracket of this invention may be employed for supporting a cornice board spaced from a wall behind which may be mounted a fluorescent type light and below which may be mounted a drapery track, all of which may be mounted over a window and/or along a wall or walls in the interior decoration of houses, homes, ofiices, business establishments, and the like.

It is an object of this invention to produce a simple, eificient, effective, economic, inexpensive, and easy to install bracket which may be employed for removably supporting a cornice board, a lighting fixture and/or a drapery or curtain track and hanger.

Another object is to provide such a bracket in which a long fluorescent type light and its ballast box may be easily installed without tools by being laid between two of such brackets.

Another object is to provide means for smoothly joining the cornice boards supported by such brackets at the corners of a room.

Another object is to provide such a cornice bracket which is adapted to hold standard hardware, lights, and curtain and drapery hangers and tracks in combination with a cornice board, which cornice board conceals all such hardware, but also permits light to shine above and below the edges of the board to indirectly illuminate the ceiling of a room as well as the face of the curtains or draperies hanging from the bracket.

Generally speaking, the bracket of this invention comprises a vertical wall engaging portion and a pair of spaced horizontal supporting portions extending from the lower part of the wall engaging portion, and an upwardly and outwardly diverging cornice board engaging portion. The two spaced horizontal supporting portions are adapted to permit easy fastening of standard type curtain or drapery rods or hangers to the lower of the two spaced horizontal supporting portions and to provide a suflicient platform upon which a lighting fixture, such as the ballast box and its long fluorescent light, may rest, with the ballast box preferably on its side so that the fluorescent light will shine both up and down from behind the cornice board supported on the cornice board supporting portion of the bracket without contact therewith. The cornice board supporting bracket is preferably adapted to co-operate with means on the inside or back of a cornice board, so that the cornice board may be mounted at an angle to the wall and be easily removed from the bracket. The cornice board may be made sufliciently wide so as to hide from view all of the hardware and fixtures mounted and supported by the brackets of this invention, as well as provide a smooth cornice and trough for the indirect lighting fixtures mounted on the bracket. These cornice boards also may be provided with snap connecting members Patented Jan. 19, 1960 plan" for joining their ends at corners of adjacent walls when the cornice is to extend continuously along two intersecting walls of a room.

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of this invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a pair of brackets of this invention installed on a wall, supporting a drapery track and drapery and showing spaced from said brackets ready for support by them, a fluorescent light and its ballast box, and a cornice board including a corner connecting member on one end of the board for containing the cornice along an adjacent wall;

Fig.2 is a slightly enlarged plan view of the two spaced brackets shown in Fig. 1 supporting a series of a standard type of fluorescent lamp fixtures or assemblies, with the ends of adjacent fixtures being supported by each one of the brackets;

Fig. 3 is an inside or rear view of a cornice board with its bracket engaging means mounted thereon adapted for the pair of brackets shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a further enlarged perspective view of one of the brackets shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the bracket engaging means which may be mounted on the back of a cornice board as shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective separated view of the pair of snap corner connecting members for the ends of cornice boards at the corner of two walls as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of another embodiment of the cornice bracket of this invention, similar to the perspective view of the first embodiment as shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged end view of the cornice bracket shown in Fig. 7 with parts broken away, and shown supporting a fluorescent lighting fixture, a drapery track and drapery, and a cornice board;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a portion of a comice board showing the means for attaching it to the cornice supporting portion of the bracket shown in Fig. 7; I

Fig. 10 is a front end elevation of the bracket shown in Fig. 8 taken along line X-X thereof, supporting two adjacent ends of fluorescent light fixtures and showing the electrical connection between said fixtures; and

Fig. 11 is a rear elevation of the bracket shown in Fig. 9 taken along line XIXI thereof.

Referring to the first embodiment of the bracket of this invention, there is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a pair of such brackets 20 mounted on a wall 21 of a room and supporting from their bottom edges a drapery rail or track 22 from which there is suspended a curtain or drapery 23. Above the pair of brackets 20 there is shown a fluorescent light fixture 24 comprising a fluorescent tubular light 25 and an elongated ballast box 26, the ends of which ballast box rest on part of one of the supporting portions of each of the brackets 20. At opposite ends of each ballast box 26, there may be provided a connecting extension cord 27 with a plug 28 and socket 29, so that a series of similar fluorescent lighting fixtures 24 may be connected along a continuous cornice, with one bracket 20 supporting the ends of two adjacent fixtures as shown in Fig. 2. In front of the bracket 20, lighting fixtures 24 and curtain or drapery hangers 22, there may be provided a cornice board 30 of sufiicient width to conceal from view the hardware of the fixtures 24 and 22, which board 30 may be provided with bracket engaging means 30 mounted on its rear face, which means cooperate with the cornice board supporting means of the brackets 20.

In Fig. 1 thereis also shown a corner of a room formed with a wall 33 which meets at rightangles with the wall 21, andan extension or additional cornice board 34, similar to 30, which extension 34 may be connected to the end of the board 30 through a snap on connecting member 36, shown also in Fig. 6. Since the cornice boards 30 and 34 are preferably at an angle to the vertical Walls 21 and 33, which angle extends outwardly and upwardly to provide a trough for the lighting fixtures 24, the corner connecting member 35 is correspondingly angled. Thus, this member 35 may be formed of two pairs of trapezoidal shaped metallic sheets 36 and 37, with each pair joined at right angles to each other along an angle which corresponds to the tilt of the boards 30 and 34. Each of these pairs of joined sheets or connecting section 36 and 37 are provided with top and bottom flanges 38 and 40 for the sheets or section36,-and.flanges 39 and 41 for the sheets or section 37, so that the flanges 39 and 41 fit inside the flanges 38 and 40, respectively, when the two sections of the connection 35 are fitted together as shown in Fig. 1, and as shown in dotted lines for the pair 37 in Fig. 6. Along adjacent edges of the flanges 38 and 40 may be provided detents or seats 42 which co-operate with pushedout looking portions 43 on flanges 39 and 41, to snap into the seats 42 when the sections 36 and 37 are assembled as shown in Fig. 1 and thereby hold the sectionstogether .toforma smooth angular surface between the two unmitered ends of the cornice boards and 34. The same sections 36 and 37 of connection may also be employed for an outside corner instead of an inside corner as shown in Fig. l, by inverting the sections from the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 6. Furthermore, if desired, a closing end portion may be employed for the end of the cornice trough, which end portion may extend between the wall and the inner face or back of the end of a cornice board 30, if the board does not extend to be flush with a side wall,.i.e. the cornice ends in the center of a wall. Such an end portion is shown at 44 in Fig. 8.

Now that the memberssupported by the bracket of thisinvention have been described, reference will behad to the specific embodiment shown in Fig.4 of one of-the supporting brackets itself. This bracket comprises essentially a vertical wall engaging portion. 51, a lower horizontal drapery or curtain hanger supporting portion 52 perpendicular to the-portion 51-and extending from the bottom thereof, a spaced light fixture supporting portion 53 parallel to the portion 52 and extending at right angles to the wall engaging portionSl intermediate of its vertical length, and lastly a cornice board engaging portion 54'extending upwardly from the outer end of the lower horizontal curtain hanger supporting portion 52, preferably at an angle 0 with the vertical, which angle is between 10 and 20 and is generally about 15 of arc.

These four supporting portions, 51, 52, 53 and 54 in this embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, may beformed of a single flat sheet of metal, which preferably is coated .to protect it from corrosion or is of aluminum. In order to reinforce and give strength to this so formed sheet, the .portion .51 may beformed to have a U-shaped channel cross-section with flanges 55, and may also contain at its lower corner where it joins with the portion 52, a triangular ribbed portion 56,-part of which extends into the base portion 52.

The base portion 52 may be provided for rigidity purposes with side flanges 57 also that may, if desired, be extended and welded to the edges of the portion 51 without departing 'fromjthe scope of thisinvention, or may be sufiiciently long to extend up to and/ or to form the supports of the portion 53.

The portion 53 also may be formed from parallel extensions 58 on the flanges (as shown in Fig. 4), so as to .extendsoutwardlyinto the inside of the L-shaped space formed between the portions 51 and 52 to. provide a sort 4 V of inverted F-shaped bracket, the central projecting portion of the F corresponding to the lighting fixture supporting portion 53. Since the lighting fixture 24 rests only by it own weight on the support 53, it may be desirable that the outwardly extending flanges 58 are provided with further flanges 59 at right angles to the extensions 58 to provide a pair of platforms for the ends of the ballast boxes 26 of the light fixtures. The flanges 58 also may be provided with upwardly extending portions 60 to prevent the lighting fixture ballast boxes which rest on the platform flanges 59 from sliding forward, thereby holding them in place adjacent the back or vertical wall supporting portion 51 of the bracket. By holding the lighting fixtures 24 in this position against the back of the bracket 20 and parallel with the wall 21, there is insured sufficient space between their tubular lights 25 and the bracket portion 54, so that when the lighting fixture 24 is laid on its side as shown in Fig. 1(see also Fig. 8), light from the fluorescent tube 25 can shine notjonly upwardly outof the top of the trough formed by the cornice board 30, but also downwardly beyond the lower edge of the cornice board and over the front of the drapery 23, to provide an added luminous and pleasing effect to the indirect lighting of the room.

The cornice board supporting bracket portion 54 shown in the embodiment of Figs. 1, 2 and 4 may be reinforced by. a center. upset triangular ribbed portion 62 (similar to ribbedportion 56) which helps to maintain the angle of the support 54 as well as to support the cornice board 30 to be attached thereto. This supporting portion 54 may have tapered edges 63 making it trapezoidal in shape, for slide cooperation with the channelled trapezoidal means 31 mounted on the back of the cornice board 30 or 34. The co-operating means 31 vmounted back of thecornice board30, thus may be provided with a tapered channel, with its inside dimensions slightly wider than the edges 63 of the portion 54, and have flanges 64 that surround the edges 63 to hold the means and cornice board attached thereto in place on the bracket. At the upper end of the trapezoidal shaped member 31 may be provided a stop or additional flange 65 which contacts the top edge 66 of the portion 54 of the bracket to limit its downward movement when the cornice board is in place thereon, as well as to prevent too tight a wedging between the edges 63 in the flanges 64. Thus, the cornice board may be easily installed and removed from the brackets 20 without tools, in the event that access to the other fixtures carried by the bracket is required, or in the event the board is to be changed, redecorated or painted.

The bracket 20 and cornice board attaching means 31 may be provided with apertures for ease of installation, such as for example, three holes. 71 on thevertical portion 51 for mounting the bracket on the wall with nails, screws, bolts, toggle bolts or the like; a pair of holes 72 on the portion 52 through which metal screws or bolts may be inserted for the mounting of the drapery hanger or rail 22 on the bottom of the bracket; and holes 73, preferably countersunk in the back of the means .31, for mounting the means 31 on the back of a cornice board 30 or 34, by means of nails or screws 74 (see Fig. 3), so that the heads of the nails or screws 74 will not obstruct the sliding of the portion 54 of the bracket 20 in the channel provided by the means 31.

Referring now to another embodiment of the bracket of this invention, reference is had to the Figs. 7 through 11 which show a bracket made of plastic or wood instead of sheet metal, but having the, same .four supporting portions as that of the formerly described bracket 20, namely, a vertical wall engaging portion 81, a lower horizontal curtain hanger engaging potrion 82, an upper horizontal light fixture supporting portion 83, and an upwardly. cornice board supporting portion 84 correspond- .ing, respective ly to portions 51 through 54. In this em- :bodiment'the vertical wall engaging portion 81 comprises aflat piece. of, materialhaving .suificient thickness for rigidity, which may be provided with a pair of pearshaped apertures 85 into which a pair of wall engaging nails, bolts or screws 86 (see Fig. 8) may fit and rest, so that the bracket 80 may be removed from the wall by raising it vertically upwardly into the dotted line position 87, so that the heads of the screws 86 will fit through the larger portions of the apertures 85. Thus, the bracket 80 may be removed so that the wall 21 may be repainted or refinished and only the screws 86, which do not have to be removed once they are properly installed, remain inserted in the wall.

The upper and lower horizontal supporting portions 83 and 82 may be provided by the opposite sides of a block portion 96, which may be fastened to the lower outer face of the back portion 81 either by screws 91 as shown in Pig. 8, and/or by nails, glue, etc. The curtain rod or hanging means 22 (see Fig. 8) may be fast ened to the bottom or supporting surface portion 82 of the block 90 by any suitable means, such as nails or screws 88.

The outer edge 92 of the block portion 90 is preferably bevelled at the angle 0 so that the cornice board supporting portion 84 may be attached directly thereto by glue, nails and/or screws 93, similar to the fastening of the other end of the block 90 to the vertical back portion 81. This block portion 90 is made sufiiciently long so that the lighting fixture 24 will have enough space to rest thereon as shown in Fig. 8 and still leave space for the light from tube 25 to shine both above and below the edges of the cornice board 30 mounted on the portion 84.

The cornice board 30 may be provided with means, such as screws 94 as shown in Fig. 9, which co-operate with pear-shaped holes 95 in the cornice board engaging portion 84, so that the board 30 may be removably placed on the bracket 84 in a similar manner to the way that the whole bracket shown in Fig. 7 may be fastened to the wall. Thus, by raising the cornice board 30 into its dotted line position 96 shown in Fig. 8 the heads of the screws 94 may slip through the larger portions of the apertures 95, and the board may be removed from the bracket 80.

It is desirable that the embodiment of the bracket 80 shown in Figs. 7 through 11 of this invention is made of a material that is light, strong and not likely to warp, and this also applies for the cornice boards 30 and 34, which preferably are made of redwood.

Thus, with the simple four-part bracket of this invention, standard lighting and curtain hanger hardware fixtures may be supported in a simple and easy manner, and a cornice board may readily be made of a straight piece of wood and be put up by ones self without the aid of skilled labor. The bracket is readily adaptable so that it may be used not only for all three of the means mounted thereon, but for any one or two of them for decoration purposes in a room. An important advantage of the bracket of this invention is that a standard electric fixture may be just laid therein, and it does not require bolts or screws or special mounting members to be installed. The only care to be taken is in the location of the brackets with respect to the length of the lighting fixtures to be employed. By employing longer lighting fixtures, the brackets may correspondingly be spaced farther apart, and vice versa.

While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

A cornice board lighting and drapery supporting system for extending around a corner of a room comprising: a

pair of longitudinally etxending upstanding cornice boards disposed at right angles to one another, one of which faces each of a pair of adjacent walls, each of said cornice boards having its lowermost edge positioned closer to the walls than its uppermost edge, whereby said boards are positioned at an angle between about 10 and 20 to the vertical of said walls, cornice board connecting means for connecting adjacent endsof said cornice boards comprising: a pair of trapezoidal plates bent at right angles to one another along said angle at which said cornice boards are disposed, said plates having flanges provided thereon extending over the upper and lower edges of said cornice boards, and interlocking means on said flanges removably holding said plates together around the ends of said cornice boards in said corner; spaced brackets supporting and spacing each of said cornice boards from its adjacent wall as well as for supporting drapery hangers and lighting fixtures, said brackets each comprising: a vertical wall engaging plate provided with a first pearshaped mounting aperture having its smaller portion disposed above its larger portion, a cornice board engaging plate spaced from and extending upwardly and outwardly to said wall engaging plate at said angle of said cornice boards and being provided with a second pear-shaped mounting aperture having its larger portion disposed above its smaller portion, said plates being of substantially equal height and being less than the height of said cornice boards, said walls and cornice boards being provided with headed members for engagement in the larger portions of said mounting apertures of said engaging plates whereby downward movement of said brackets and the cornice boards lock said headed members in said smaller portions of said apertures, and a bridging member having a thickness of at least one fourth the height of said plates and extending between and secured to the lowermost halves of said plates and defining spaced upper and lower horizontal surfaces for supporting said drapery hangers and said lighting fixtures, respectively; said cornice boards being of sufiicient height to conceal from the view of a person in the room said brackets, said lighting fixtures and said drapery hangers; said drapery hangers comprising: a drapery supporting rod means attached to said lower horizontal'surface of said bridging member and being spaced away from said cornice board whereby light may shine between said rod means and the lower edge of said cornice board over the front of a drapery hung from said rod means; and said light fixture comprising: a fluorescent lamp and a support therefor, said support freely resting on said upper horizontal surface of said bridging member of two of said brackets horizontally spaced on the wall at a distance less than the length of said light fixture, with said light above said space between said rod means and said lower edge of said cornice board, whereby most of the light from said lamp shines on the ceiling of the room over the upper outer edge of said cornice board and some of the light shines down over the front of the drapery hung from said rod means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 233,265 Livingstone Oct. 12, 1880 388,286 Kinnear Aug. 21, 1888 424,312 Kinnear Mar. 25, 1890 1,565,735 Greenhut Dec. 15, 1925 2,499,683 Reyes Mar. 7, 1950 2,528,132 Gibson et al Oct. 31, 1950 2,708,711 McGinty et a1. May 17, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 73,653 Germany Mar. 5, 1894 

